Lit Live Stages New Play About Mary Shelley

Lit Live presents the world premiere of And Lightning Struck: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Creation, February 9 through 12 at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. Written by Robert Weibezahl and directed by Austin Robert Miller, this atmospheric historical drama delves into the intimate life of Mary Shelley, the writer of Frankenstein.

And Lightning Struck is a story about Mary herself-not an adaptation of Frankenstein, but rather the story of how this literary genius came to write it. Mary Godwin Shelley was only eighteen years old when she first "gave birth" to her classic story and the creature at the heart of it. Along with her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their friends, including Lord Byron, Mary was part of group of freethinkers who lived life by their own rules, often provoking scandal. But tragedy dogged Mary Shelley's life-her mother died when she was born, all but one of her children died as children, and by age twenty-five she was already a widow.

And Lightning Struck begins in 1831 as a publisher asks Mary to write a new introduction to a new edition of Frankenstein. As she reluctantly tells him the fascinating story of how she came to create this classic tale during a ghost storytelling contest, she tries to puzzle out the source of her own genius. As the action unfolds, the play re-imagines this incredible true story as the older Mary looks back on her life and is visited by the ghosts of memory-including her husband, her father William Godwin, her stepsister Claire Clairmont, Lord Byron, the doctor-poet John Polidori, and, of course, the fictional Victor Frankenstein and the "creature" he/she created.

The cast includes Kay Capasso as the older Mary, Cole Wagner in dual roles as the fictional Matthews and real-life Polidori, Tom Mesmer as the Creature and Mary's father, Jen Ridgeway as the younger Mary, Schafer Bourne as Percy Shelley and Victor, EVan Smith as Byron, and Alyssa Villaire as Claire.

And Lightning Struck opens Thursday, February 9 at 8 pm and continues Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets are $22/$15 seniors and military, with students and teacher tickets $10. Group rates are available. Tickets can be purchased at www.Simi-Arts.org, by calling 805/583-7900, or by visiting the box office. The Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center 3050 E. Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley.